Nintendo of America has sent out invites for a media briefing that will be held in New York City. This is where we’re expecting to hear the release date and price of the Wii U. Usually, we’d also expect an equivalent event in Europe. Nintendo, however, has confirmed this will not be the case:

We are not planning a specific European event like NOA, however we are looking to put the new Wii U console in the hands of as many people across Europe as possible and we will be in contact with news of our UK communications plan in the near future.

But still, “[putting] the new Wii U console in the hands of as many people across Europe as possible” sounds like a fair trade-off.